Baldur's Gate 3 Bard Guide - All Subclasses (Lore, Valour, Swords)

I literally have no idea how to turn on bardic attack for my allys. Using PS5 and I have no way to add it to the attack. And their is no tutorial in this game ever😂

My lovely boyfriend gifted me the game yesterday and I was trying to figure out what to choose. Picked bard out of random because I love music and figured it would be a good support character as I enjoy supporting my team than being the main damage dealer. Such a great pick and this video helps a whole lot on how to make better combos with my bard

I’m thinking of making astarion a bard but with major focus on dex cause I currently have as a thief

Just FYI... you can beat the game as a road band.

Just a point of clarification - in the current version, selecting Lore as a subclass at level 3 rewards you with proficiency in any 3 new Skills and Expertise in 2 Skills. It is not limited to Arcana, Intimidation, and Sleight of Hand.

is there somewhere a guide like this but in written form?

Dumb question where did the picture from the thumbnail come from?

Your videos are definitely the best! Thank you so much!!!

The best part of playing a bard in bg3 is the NPCs throw gold at you when you play music near them.

Started another new character last night, choose bard & decided to go fully into healer bard; Only at Lv5 rn in act 1 but when I heal someone they gain, blade ward, bless, & temporary hit points. Bardic inspiration also heals 1 D6 thanks to the hat by Alfira & I gain temp hit points from the tunic Volo gives you. It’s actually a really fun build so far, I might spec 2 levels into life cleric for the extra healing potency.

Why do you hate my tiefling bard

Wrong suggestion. Humans are skilled at shields.

Well, I'm overwhelmed lol 😅

From my experience, Bard is the best class for overall gameplay. Hit dice in video games is not my thing… so spells and attacks that still do damage if saved is great for me. Talking is 70% of this game so charisma is just too important to have.

Is a Bard Swords and Barbarian Wild Magic/Berserker be a viable build or do they work against each other

OP strat - two bards party.
Main character bard will use advantage skill, second bard will use bardic insipiration.
Any skill check will be 30+.

Bards have some of the best special dialogue in the game IMO

Same with DnD, I get so bored when people talk about optimizing race, class, etc for best stats when stats don’t matter. The character itself matters most.

My buddy said with our group, he wanted all of us to run Bard Dragonborns and name our band Imagine Humans

I am so lost in this game, got my bard to level 3 & nto sure what skills to choose, couldn't find much help from this as it's so complex..

Love the guides, but no love given to dwarves, gnomes and halflings 😔

Too bad college of glamour isn’t a subclass option

I hate and love that Bard is actually one of the most powerful and versatile class

college of lore bard + way of four elements monk ! im playing as this! Spell casting and if they come close...well ill kungfuuuu them
P.s. But i miss using this rare electric staff i found :(

I'm playing a multiclass bard now. I started with Wood Elf(Noble) Any Race with a skill proficiency can get all skills with this build. Started as Rogue for skills and Expertise. Then I took 1 level Cleric(Knowledge) for 2 more skills and Expertise. After this I'm going all in on Bard(Lore) with focus on all INT and CHA skills and I will have Expertise in all of them. I picking Slight of Hand for the last one. For my 2 Feats, I got Actor and will get Skilled

I'm using the Warped headband of Intellect and the Dex Gloves so my stats are STR 8, DEX 18, CON 14, INT 17, WIS 16, CHA 19(18 with -1 from the Smuggler's ring, but +1 from Hag's hair). So far I'm Level 6 and as Wood Elf(started with 2 skills from Race), I'm only missing 2 skills and I might drop Skilled and get CHA up to 20. Survival and Medicine is not that Important :P Expertise in 10 skills is nice though ^^

cool

I tried machinegun bard with 2 hand crossbows. Now i look like a vampire hunter and im digging it.
Im crushing every single skill check in dialogue, support my team and still do the most dmg while
having 19-23AC as a ranged character.

correction: warlocks do NOT gain vicious mockery through natural progression, ONLY bards do

A single level on draconic sorcerer gives you +3 of AC with no armor (so you cna use many of the amazing clothes in the game) some nice damage cantrips ,the shield spell and most importantly (if you chose white dragon) armor of agathys for extra health and returning damage on melee. Starting as a sorcerer then bard until lv 6 (for the extra attack on college of sword or valour) and then a second lv on sorcerer for the metamagic, then untill lv 10 bard is a very effective way to multiclass with bard.

is it super important to pick a race that meshes well ability wise? i want to go dwarf bard, purely for role playing reasons. would i be making the experience worse for myself if i do?

Great guide! Thank you. I'm new to BG. How does spell casting work if I'm using two weapons as a sword bard? Would I still be able to cast all the same helpful spells? Would I need to use an action to switch a weapon for a free hand? I like the idea of duel wielding as a two weapon sword bard but will choose dueling if it will get in the way of my ability to cast spells. Any clarification would be much appreciated!

Right. That settles it. I'm doing a Half-Orc Bard for my “The Dark Urge” playthrough. 😁

Tiefling is also a great choice for college of valor.

I want a bard that's a frontline scholar, maybe a beefy half-orc devout of Oghma. How important is the second attack from blade/valor? Is there any sense going melee with lore?

Is lore bard/ftr 10/2 viable, starting ftr for heavy armor and going str instead of dex? Gives more options for weapon choice, and for ranged, there's always magical secrets and cutting words to up the offense.

1 life cleric/11 lore bard would also give heavy armor and some healing. But thematically knowledge domain would be amazing. It's just maybe a bit overkill on skills.

Or is it just flat out better to go dex? I don't want the swashbuckler/archer fantasy.

This is the class i finally settled on , College of Valor Zariel Tiefling Dex/Cha based. I am the healer/lockpicker/support class with some great finesse/ranged weapons to fight with. Thaumaturgy and smite abilities. Also have the necklace of Guidance so i completely cover the Cleric class and the rogue class minus the sneak attacks. at level 3 i have a 19 AC and can cover all conversation rolls with ease. Looking forward to the lvl6 two attacks ability.

so im confused why you wouldn't wait to level 4 to multiclass so you can gain the feat for bard then go into warlock at level 5.

why do get sleight of hand and intimidation automatically on level 3?

Is there no full bard only build?

1 cleric then bard and you have great healer/buffer

Damage Types, across all Classes or Archetypes

Arcane Power:
Mages, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Wizards, etc
Arcana / Magical Damage

Divine Power:
Clerics, Paladins, etc
Divine / Holy Damage

Ki / Qi Power:
Monks
Ki Damage

Martial Power:
Barbarians, Fighters, Rogues, etc
Martial Damage

Psionic Power:
Ardents, Battle Minds,
Psionics, etc
Psionic / Psychic Damage

Primal Power:
Druid, Ranger, Shaman, etc

Everyone; looks at the Bard
"What's your Damage Type?"

Bard:
Emotional Damage

Vicious Mockery -
Emotional Damage intensifies

I did a half-drow lore bard. Level up to 6 to get magical secrets (counterspell and lightning bolt), now working my way to 2 levels of warlock to get eldritch blast and invocations. Then the rest into bard. Super useful in combat with hypnotic pattern, dissonant whispers, cloud of daggers, faerie fire, etc. A ton of fun.

Sing me a song of a land that is gone.

Now i know what class i want to play when the game release on ps5

I guess I'm the only wood gnome bard?

There's an amazing rapier you can get in Act 3 that lets you crit on 19 if you don't have a shield in your off-hand. Feels like it was designed for a College of Swords Bard.

Playing Bard (Swords) for my first play through, and I’m pretty deep into Act 3 now. It’s been so much fun. Loving all the dialogue options, the cool aoe spells, and good melee, it’s been a great first choice of a class. I’m big on seeing as much dialogue stuff as possible during my first time throughout a game, then going different routes for other playthroughs.